This invention relates to an automatic machine for vaccinating chicks and similar birds.
Chick vaccinating machines are known. With these, the newly born chicks originating from the incubator are firstly divided manually into males and females and are then taken with the hand and inserted by their head, individually or in pairs, into appropriate seats provided in a continuously rotating basket of an automatic machine. Each seat of this rotating basket is provided with a fork which retains the head of the chick, while its body remains dangling outwards.
During basket rotation, the chick passes in front of a vaccination station, in which one or more needles are inserted into its neck to vaccinate it under its skin.
This known machine is able to automatically vaccinate the chicks, but at the same time presents a series of drawbacks which this invention proposes to eliminate.
One of these drawbacks is the high constructional cost of the machine, mainly because of the number and complexity of the automatic controls required to effect the automatic vaccination cycle.
Another drawback is the laboriousness of the operations involved in setting up the machine, given the difficulty of exactly adjusting the relatively moving parts to ensure correct needle insertion into the neck of the chicks.
A further drawback is the need for careful daily maintenance, to ensure that the complex operating cycle is properly implemented.
A further drawback is the considerable wear to which the various parts are subjected, and hence the need for frequent replacement of worn parts.
A further drawback is the difficulty encountered by the operator in adapting to a rate of working substantially imposed by the rotation of the basket and hence not adaptable to the inevitable inaccuracies inherent in human working, especially in loading the chicks onto a moving member.
A further drawback is the potential danger of a member under continuous movement, in this case the rotating basket.
A further drawback is the considerable noise level of the machine, which often reaches the allowable limits.
All these drawbacks are eliminated according the invention by an automatic machine for vaccinating chicks and similar birds as described in claim 1.